JP4234251B2 - Remote fault diagnosis system for machinery - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a remote failure diagnosis system applied to a mechanical facility controlled by a sequencer such as a mechanical parking lot, an automatic warehouse, a crane facility, an elevator facility, a robot facility, and the like. The present invention relates to a remote failure diagnosis system for mechanical equipment that performs diagnosis at a maintenance center in a remote place and issues a restoration instruction to each maintenance person, department in charge, and the site.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, a machine control device using a sequencer is a relatively small system by itself, or an auxiliary device in a large-scale system, and remote fault diagnosis targeting a control device using a sequencer. System development was delayed. In recent years, operation of a relatively large-scale system using a sequencer has started, and the need for a remote failure diagnosis system that supports failure recovery along with a request for quick recovery in the event of a failure has increased.
[0003]
Under such circumstances, a remote fault diagnosis system as shown in FIG. 6 has been developed.
FIG. 6 shows one or a plurality of on-site A, B, and C mechanical facilities 40a... Having a mechanical device 46a... Controlled by a control device (sequencer) 45a. A remote failure diagnosis system in a mechanical facility that performs failure diagnosis via a line 18,
In the maintenance center 10, the local diagnosis information is received from the fault diagnosis expert system 61 and the respective sites A, B, C via the modem 41 a..., And the local A, B, C side information is received from the maintenance center 10. A communication device 11 for transmitting a signal from the maintenance center 10 side to information display terminal devices 43a... Such as a printer or FAX provided on the B and C sides.
[0004]
In such a remote failure diagnosis system, when the sequencer 45 that controls the mechanical device 46 installed in the local machine facility 40 detects a failure, the operation of the mechanical device 46 is stopped first, and the on-site display panel is damaged. The corresponding fault number is displayed.
Inside the sequencer 45, the sensor state at the time of the failure is maintained, and the telephone line 18 is used to connect to the manufacturer's maintenance center 10 through the modem 41 to notify the local name, failure number, sensor state, and the like.
In the maintenance center 10 that has received the data, the failure diagnosis expert system 61 that estimates the cause of the failure based on the logic prepared in advance provides information about the estimated cause of failure and the confirmation location in the form of a question tree, etc. Is used to notify the local machine facility 40 and output to a printer or FAX machine 43 installed in the field.
[0005]
As such a remote failure diagnosis system, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-144362 is disclosed as a conventional technique for mechanical parking facilities.
This technology is capable of centrally managing all parking lots and diagnosing a number of parking lots where the service engineer can know the cause of failure without having a computer. When an abnormality occurs in the parking lot, sequence data such as a sensor at the time of failure is transmitted to the failure diagnosis expert system 61 in the maintenance center 10 via the public line 18 and the communication device 11, and the system detects the sensor and the like. The cause of the failure is estimated from the sequence data, and the question item and the cause of the failure are transmitted to the corresponding printer or fax machine 43 of the parking lot 40 via the public line 18 and the modem 41.
[0006]
The expert system 61 includes an inference engine that infers observation items in an interactive format, and a rule base that establishes inference rules with an if statement and a then statement, and observation items specific to a parking lot are output from the inference engine. Establish the inference rules from the sensor operating status of the diagnostic data editing unit, create a question tree in hierarchical order, and output the diagnosis result in NO format, and input the estimated cause to the coping example search unit . In the countermeasure example search unit, failure data is input from the failure database to the countermeasure example registration unit, and a countermeasure example corresponding to the estimated cause is output from the knowledge database of the countermeasure example.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In such a remote fault diagnosis system according to the prior art, fault inference is performed by an expert system as described above.
An expert system is a system that implements a reasoning mechanism that uses a certain knowledge representation format and knowledge on a computer. This is a labor-intensive work. In addition, whenever the software is modified, it is necessary to consider modifying the embedded knowledge database.
[0008]
Thus, there was a problem that knowledge creation of expert systems was difficult. In addition, since the machine starts to operate immediately after the local software correction, it is necessary to correct the timely remote fault diagnosis system in accordance with it, but there is a problem that it is difficult to cope with it.
[0009]
In addition, since the sequencer software in the control device can be easily repaired locally if there is a tool, it is difficult to centrally manage the source code like computer software and prevent local modifications. Therefore, there is a possibility that the software may be modified for each site and the failure detection logic may be changed. However, creating a knowledge database corresponding to customization for each site requires a lot of labor and time. there were.
[0010]
On the other hand, in the above-mentioned conventional system, since the maintenance center side transmits the failure reasoning result only to the site, the maintenance staff does not know the situation until arrival at the site, and cannot be considered in advance or is expected Since necessary tools, parts, materials, etc. could not be prepared before arrival, there was a problem that preparation for the arrangement of goods took time and recovery was delayed.
[0011]
In order to solve such a problem, the present invention provides one or a plurality of mechanical facilities controlled by a sequencer such as a mechanical parking lot, an automatic warehouse, a crane facility, an elevator facility, and a robot facility which are located away from the maintenance center. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote fault diagnosis system that can perform quick fault recovery when a fault occurs.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention connects one or a plurality of local machine facilities having a mechanical device controlled by a sequencer and a maintenance center in a remote place through a communication network such as a public or dedicated line / computer network, and a failure occurs. In the remote failure diagnosis system for machinery and equipment that performs connection diagnosis as necessary and performs failure diagnosis and notifies the maintenance department (including maintenance staff) of support for restoration through the communication network.
Inside the maintenance center The late One or more information holding means to hold the sequencer input / output and internal information (hereinafter referred to as failure analysis information) necessary for failure analysis of each machine device in the event of a failure, and the sequencer of the local machine device to prevent failure A failure occurrence condition database (hereinafter referred to as DB) storing conditions to be detected;
A cause inference device that infers one or more failure causes from the failure occurrence condition DB based on the failure analysis information sent from the corresponding local side, and a restoration instruction based on the failure cause obtained from the inference device A transmission data creation device that creates recovery instruction data from the DB, and an information display terminal device that receives the failure analysis information from each local side or maintenance department to the maintenance center, and is provided from the maintenance center to the maintenance department or the local side To de A communication device for transmitting data, and when a failure occurs in each local machine device, the failure analysis information is notified to the maintenance center side via the communication network and the communication device, From the failure analysis information held in the information holding means in the center and the failure occurrence condition DB, the cause of the failure is estimated by the cause inference device, The estimated reason Cause of failure Responding to the cause of the failure In addition to notifying the maintenance department of the recovery instruction data to realize quick failure recovery,
Further, the maintenance center includes a logic analysis device that analyzes a logic of a sequencer of a local machine device and analyzes a condition that causes a failure,
The logic analysis device finds all combinations of factors by which the local sequencer detects a failure based on the backup software stored in the sequencer software maintenance center stored in the sequencer of the local machine device. An occurrence condition list is generated, and the failure occurrence condition list is stored in the failure occurrence condition DB. It is characterized by this.
[0013]
Here, the “public line” in the public or dedicated line is not only a telephone line connected to each home by wire, but also a communication company such as a digital line represented by ISDN, a mobile phone, a PHS, and a satellite phone. It means a communication line to be provided, and “computer network” means a communication network using a computer typified by the Internet or an intranet. “Communication means” refers to a terminal device installed in the field, maintenance center, maintenance department, or a terminal that is portablely owned by a maintenance person, and a public line / computer network etc. This is equipment necessary for communication, and means devices such as modems, DSU / TA, hubs, and routers.
[0014]
[0015]
According to this invention, the local information (execution operation type, sensor status, current position, generated facility name, generated time, etc.) sent when a failure occurs is compared with the failure occurrence condition obtained on the maintenance center side. By doing so, the condition that caused the failure can be known, and the sensor causing the failure and the internal condition can be specified. Because the conditions obtained from the local sequencer software are used, it is possible to deal with differences between each site and to realize reliable diagnosis.
[0016]
In addition, when a failure history DB that records failure occurrence status and cause and treatment result is provided, and a plurality of failure factors are selected as a result of diagnosis by the cause inference device, Failure history DB Based on the cause of failure with high probability of occurrence as a cause, issue a recovery instruction signal Also This is an effective means of the present invention.
[0017]
In addition, as a means for communicating recovery instructions to maintenance departments including maintenance personnel, mobile communication means such as pagers, mobile phones, PHS, satellite communications, satellite telephones, etc. are used to carry mobile phones owned by maintenance personnel in motion. Notifying the terminal of the recovery instruction information is also an effective means of the present invention.
[0018]
It is also an effective means of the present invention to back up the sequencer software stored in each local sequencer to the maintenance center side via an automatic backup device using a communication network.
[0019]
In addition, the sequencer of the local machine equipment is equipped with a cycle buffer-like storage device that stores the sequencer input / output and internal information necessary for failure analysis for a predetermined time range,
Always write the state of the sequencer to the storage device, throw away from the oldest information if the storage area is insufficient, save the latest information in the predetermined time range,
It is also an effective means of the present invention to hold the state in a predetermined time zone immediately before the occurrence of the failure by stopping the writing of new information due to the occurrence of the failure of the corresponding mechanical device.
In this case, each local machine has a cycle memory that stores the sequencer input / output and internal information (hereinafter referred to as failure analysis information) necessary for failure analysis for a predetermined time range, and the failure analysis information is cycled. Sequentially written in the memory, the latest data is always stored for a predetermined time range, and the writing of new information is stopped by the failure signal generated by the failure of the corresponding mechanical equipment, so that Means may be provided for holding the time domain state in the cycle memory.
[0020]
Examples of the mechanical equipment used in the remote fault diagnosis system of the present invention include a mechanical parking lot, a crane equipment, an automatic warehouse, an elevator equipment, and a robot equipment, but are not limited thereto.
[0021]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the types of components, circuit configurations, relative arrangements, hardware and software configurations, etc. described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those unless otherwise specified. This is just an example.
[0022]
FIG. 1 is an overall block configuration diagram of a remote fault diagnosis system in mechanical equipment according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
In the present embodiment, one or a plurality of local machine facilities 40 (40a, 40b...) Having a mechanical device 46 controlled by a sequencer 45 and a maintenance center 10 in a remote place are connected to a public or private line / computer network or the like. The communication network 17 is connected, and a failure diagnosis is made by connecting as necessary, such as when a failure occurs, and the communication network 17 directly calls a maintenance department 30 or a maintenance person 30 who makes a patrol, etc. Is a remote fault diagnosis system for machinery and equipment,
In the maintenance center 10, the data management device 12, the failure occurrence condition DB 21 storing the conditions for detecting the failure by the sequencer 45 of the local machine device 46, and the local information sent from the corresponding local side are also stored. The cause inference device 13 for inferring one or a plurality of failure causes from the failure occurrence condition DB 21 and the transmission for generating various transmission data together with the recovery instruction data from the recovery instruction DB 22 based on the failure cause obtained from the inference device 13 From the data creation device 14 and each local side machine facility 40 or a maintenance department 30 or a maintenance person 30 who performs patrols (hereinafter referred to as a maintenance department) to the maintenance center 10, the failure occurrence information and other local information. Information display terminal device such as a printer or FAX provided in the maintenance department 30 or the local machine facility 40 from the maintenance center 10 2, the communication device 11 that transmits the failure occurrence information and the recovery instruction data, the logic analysis device 15 that analyzes the logic of the sequencer 45 of the local machine device 46 and analyzes the conditions that cause the failure, A failure history DB 23 that records failure occurrence status, cause, and treatment result, and sequencer software stored in each sequencer 45 of the local machine device 46 are automatically backed up to the maintenance center 10 side using the communication network 17. The storage device 16 of the sequencer software 26 that takes backup via 50 is provided.
[0023]
A maintenance person in charge of a maintenance department or a patrol or the like includes a failure status input device 35 such as a personal computer, a mobile personal computer, a mobile phone having a keyboard, and an information display terminal device such as a printer, FAX, OCR, liquid crystal screen, etc. 32 and these information are transmitted to the maintenance center 10 and the local machine equipment 40, and from each local machine equipment 40 or the maintenance center 10. Failure analysis information Has a system including a communication device 31 for receiving the signal. Since maintenance personnel are often in patrol, the system is configured using mobile communication devices such as pagers, mobile phones, PHS, satellite communications, satellite phones, etc. It may be configured to notify the mobile terminal of the recovery instruction information.
[0024]
The local machine equipment 40 has a mechanical device 46 controlled by a sequencer 45 incorporated in the control panel, and the control panel together with the sequencer 45 is an information display terminal such as a printer, FAX, OCR, liquid crystal screen or the like. A communication device 41 is provided for transmitting information about the device 42 and the sequencer 45 and the like to the maintenance center 10 and the department in charge of maintenance 30 and receiving the recovery instruction data and other information from the maintenance center 10. In addition, the sequencer 45 has an internal failure at the time of failure. Failure analysis information Are provided with one or more information holding circuits 120. In this case, examples of the mechanical facility 40 include a mechanical parking lot, a crane facility, an automatic warehouse, an elevator facility, and a robot facility. Further, the information holding circuit 120 shown in FIG. 7 may be provided in each sequencer 45.
[0025]
The configuration of the information holding circuit 120 will be described with reference to FIG.
One or more holding circuits 120 are provided inside the sequencer 45. The holding circuit 120 sequentially writes the input / output / internal information 124 of the sequencer necessary for failure analysis into the cycle memory 121 in which the memory area is rotary-shifted endlessly based on the control signal from the memory write control circuit 125. The cycle memory 121 has a plurality of memory areas A to O, for example, and a new A ^- Is written in the O area which is the oldest memory area.
[0026]
According to the memory 121, the state of the sequencer 45 is always written to the memory 121, and when the memory area is insufficient, the oldest memory information is discarded, and the latest predetermined time area information is always stored in the memory areas A to O. Can do.
The memory write control circuit 125 performs write control based on the permission signal from the write permission signal generation circuit 123.
The write permission signal is an output signal from the AND gate 122 that takes the AND of the sequencer read cycle signal obtained from the local machine equipment 40 via the communication device 41 and the inversion signal of the failure signal (in other words, the non-failure signal in the non-failure state). Is generated by the write permission signal generation circuit 123 based on the above.
[0027]
That is, in a normal state, a cycle memory in which the memory area is endlessly shifted to the sequencer input / output / internal information 124 by the control signal from the memory write control circuit 125 based on the sequencer information read signal. The data is sequentially written in 121, and the latest data is always stored for a predetermined time range. When a failure signal is transmitted to the AND gate 122 due to the failure of the corresponding mechanical device 46, a write permission signal generation circuit 123 transmits a non-permission signal to the memory write control circuit 125 to write new information. By stopping, the cycle memory 121 can hold the state in the predetermined time zone immediately before the occurrence of the failure.
[0028]
Each device except the machine device 46 and the sequencer 45 in the field, each device in the maintenance center 10, and each device installed in the maintenance department 30 can be configured as a single device. It is also possible to configure the apparatus. In the present embodiment, each device is described as a single device, but the invention is not limited thereto, and is merely an illustrative example.
In FIG. 1, the maintenance center 10 includes a communication device 11 that transmits and receives data to and from the outside, and the data management device 12 discriminates the transmitted data and performs appropriate processing. If the received information is failure occurrence information, it is stored in the failure history DB 23 and further sent to the failure cause inference device 13 to start diagnosis. If it is failure recovery information, it is stored in the recovery instruction DB 22 and the failure history DB 23 in association with the failure occurrence information.
[0029]
The failure cause inference device 13 is obtained by inferring the cause of failure based on the failure occurrence information sent from the local machine facility 40 and the failure occurrence condition DB 21, sending the inference result to the transmission data creating device 14, and inferring it. Information on the recovery instruction corresponding to the cause of the failure is extracted from the recovery instruction DB 22 and data to be transmitted to the local machine equipment 40 is created. The created recovery instruction data is sent to the data management device 12 and stored in the failure history DB 23. Failure analysis information Are stored in association with each other and transmitted to the maintenance department 30 and the local machine facility 40 as necessary by the communication device 11.
In FIG. 1, only one local machine facility 40 is described in detail, but a plurality of local sites (40a, 40b,...) Can be similarly handled as in the conventional example. Further, although only one location is described in detail for the maintenance department 30, the maintenance departments (30 a, 30 b) in each place having one place for each site or a plurality of sites, or a plurality of locations for one site. , ...) is also possible.
[0030]
Hereinafter, the flow of processing from the occurrence of failure to the completion of recovery will be described below.
(A) Failure
When a malfunction such as an abnormal sensor input or an unexpected input occurs in the mechanical device 46, when the malfunction is detected by the logic incorporated in the sequencer software, the sequencer 45 stops the mechanical device 46 as a failure, and at that time The information holding circuit 120 in the sequencer 45 holds the input information and output information of the sequencer 45.
(B) Failure notification
After the occurrence of the failure, the sequencer 45 summarizes the input / output information held, information indicating the processing operation being executed, information necessary for failure analysis such as the current stop state and stop position, and the communication device 41 sends the information to the maintenance center 10. This information is notified along with the date and time of occurrence, local name, and equipment name.
[0031]
(C) Failure notification reception
The failure occurrence information received at the maintenance center 10 is newly registered in the failure history DB 23 and sent to the failure cause inference device 13.
(D) Failure analysis
The failure cause inference device 13 has sent Failure analysis information Based on
-The failure occurrence condition DB 21 is searched using the local name, the failure occurrence facility, the failure number set for the corresponding failure location, etc. as a key, and all condition lists where the failure occurs are obtained.
-I / O information, information indicating the processing operation being executed, the current stop state, stop position, and other local conditions at the time of failure occurrence are compared with the condition list obtained from the failure occurrence condition DB 21 and cause failure. Detect elements.
Here, when it is not possible to narrow down to a single condition or when multiple elements are involved, the failure history DB 23 is searched to check the past occurrence status, and the possibility of recurrence is examined, and the cause is highly likely To list.
-In the failure history DB 23, weighting such as setting the possibility of recurrence to be low for elements such as breakage, setting the possibility of recurrence low when there is a history of recent replacement, and setting the possibility of recurrence to high Do it.
The selected failure cause list is sent to the transmission data creation device 14.
[0032]
(E) Create recovery instructions
The transmission data creation device 14 obtains a recovery method for the estimated cause of failure from the recovery instruction DB 22, creates data to be transmitted, and sends it to the data management device 12. The data management device 12 stores the recovery instruction data in the failure history DB 23 in association with the failure occurrence information.
(F) Recovery instruction notification
The recovery instruction data is transmitted to the corresponding maintenance department 30 and the local machine facility 40 as necessary by the communication device 11. The location where the recovery instruction notification is transmitted to each site is stored in the data management device 12, and changes and additions are made by a person in charge of the maintenance center 10.
[0033]
(G) Receive recovery instructions
The restoration instruction is received by the communication device 31 of the maintenance department 30 and displayed on the information display terminal device 32. Further, printing is performed from the information display terminal device 32 as necessary. Based on the displayed information, the maintenance staff can examine recovery measures and prepare parts and tools that are expected to be necessary.
(H) Recovery work
The maintenance staff performs the recovery work according to the recovery instruction. If there are multiple cause items, check and restore them sequentially according to the description. After the completion of the recovery work, the maintenance staff inputs a failure recovery status such as a cause of failure and a treatment method using the failure status input device 35 and notifies the maintenance center 10 that the recovery has been completed.
[0034]
(I) Post-processing
In the maintenance center 10 that has received the recovery report from the local machine facility 40, the data management device 12 stores the recovery result in the failure history DB 23 in association with the failure occurrence information. At this time, it is also confirmed which item in the recovery instruction is the cause. If there is another cause, it is registered in the failure history DB 23 as new information, and the recovery method is registered in the recovery instruction DB 22. If the sequencer software 26 is corrected as a measure, an automatic backup device 50 described later is activated to update the backup of the sequencer software 26 in the maintenance center 10.
With the above-described series of flows, failure recovery can be performed quickly and smoothly.
[0035]
Next, the failure occurrence condition DB 21 important for failure diagnosis and the logic analysis device 15 that creates the failure occurrence condition DB 21 will be described in detail. The failure occurrence condition DB 21 is analyzed and created by the logic analysis device 15 based on the sequencer software 26. FIG. 2 is a ladder diagram of a sequencer showing an example of analysis, and FIG. 3 is a failure occurrence condition list showing an example of an analysis result. These examples are examples for explaining the function of the logic analysis device 15, and do not limit the range of the target sequencer software.
[0036]
An overview of the sequencer software shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In the logic for detecting a start condition abnormality when M100 = on, when the start PB [X10] is on, a case where an automatic or manual start condition is not satisfied is detected as a start condition abnormality [M100].
Automatic is selected by automatic SW [X20]: on, and becomes abnormal when automatic start condition satisfaction [M1] is off. Manual is selected when manual SW [X21]: on and manual start condition is satisfied [M2]: off. The AND condition of the sensor A [X1], the sensor B [X2] and the switch C [X3] is the automatic start condition satisfaction [M1], and the conditions are satisfied when each of them is off, on, and off. : Off and the condition is not satisfied. Also, if the AND condition of the sensor D [X4] and the comparison statement (start position = current position) is the manual start condition satisfied [M2], and if & (start position = current position), the condition is satisfied, and either is different Not established. Here, the condition that M100 is turned on is a cause factor of occurrence of “abnormal start condition”, and all combinations are analyzed and obtained from the sequencer software of FIG. The list shown in FIG. 3 is the analysis result of FIG. A total of 5 combinations are obtained as a result. ON / OFF indicates the state of the input, and “-” indicates that the input condition is irrelevant.
[0037]
The function of the logic analysis device 15 is to generate a failure condition list from the sequencer software described here and store it in the failure occurrence condition DB 21. Here, the failure condition list is shown in the form of a table in FIG. 3 for explanation, but is actually stored in the failure occurrence condition DB 21 as data.
[0038]
Next, a failure analysis technique performed by the failure cause inference device 13 will be described. As an example, the sequencer software and condition list shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are used.
It is assumed that the following failure occurrence information has been notified from the site.
Local name: ABC factory Equipment name: XYZ
Failure name: Abnormal start condition <Failure number: 100>
Operating conditions: During automatic operation
Input / output status: Start PB ... ON Manual SW ... OFF
Automatic SW… ON Sensor D… ON
Sensor A ... OFF Start position ... 1200
Sensor B ... OFF Current position ... 1230
Switch C… OFF
[0039]
The target sequencer software is identified from the local name and the equipment name, and the failure occurrence condition is obtained from the failure occurrence condition DB 21 using failure number: 100 and “start condition abnormality” as keys. Here, the condition list shown in FIG. 3 is used as an example for explanation.
When the input / output state sent from the field is compared with the condition list, it can be seen that the generation conditions in the second column in FIG. 3 match. Under this condition, there are three related inputs: start PB, automatic SW, and sensor B, but it can be estimated that automatic SW: ON is not the cause because it is “automatic driving” based on information from the site.
Sensor B: OFF indicates that, for example, an object is not in a predetermined position, and is considered as a cause of an abnormality [Cause 1].
Further, since the start PB is an operation start switch, it is presumed that an operation error has occurred before the operator is ready [cause 2].
Here, the past occurrence situation is obtained from the failure history DB 23, and when there are many operation mistakes, [Cause 2] is set as the first candidate, and when there are almost no operation mistakes, sensor B is often caused by [ A failure cause list is created with cause 1] as the first candidate.
The above is the description of the function of the failure cause inference device 13.
[0040]
Next, a backup method of the sequencer software 26 stored in the sequencer software storage device 16 at the maintenance center 10 will be described.
Conventionally, a local maintenance person who corrects the sequencer software at the site 40 makes a backup every time the software is changed at the site, and sends it in a storage medium such as a floppy disk or transmits it using a computer network. Alternatively, a copy of the latest sequencer software remains in the maintenance center 10 by means such as sending a change point by FAX.
However, when software changes are made, local maintenance personnel are often busy dealing with customers, such as troubleshooting, and backup processing is postponed and sometimes forgotten.
[0041]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, by installing the automatic backup device 50, it is possible to take a backup without taking the trouble of a local maintenance person. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the automatic backup device 50. The automatic backup device 50 installed in the maintenance center 10 has a controller 51 for controlling the device inside, and is connected to the communication device 11 for data exchange with the site, and stores the captured sequencer software. The sequencer software storage device 16 is also connected. When regularly backing up such as every week or every month, the automatic capture interval setting device 55 sets the capture interval to the timer device 56. The setting may be specified for each local machine facility 40 or specified for all the local machine facilities 40 at once. The timer device 56 issues a take-in instruction to the controller 51 at a set predetermined interval. The controller 51 refers to the local list 52, obtains a local telephone number or an address name and address number necessary for network connection, connects to the corresponding local area by the communication device 11, and takes in the sequencer software 26. The taken sequencer software 26 is stored in the sequencer software storage device 16 and sent to the logic analysis device 15 to update the failure occurrence condition DB 21.
[0042]
In addition, when a software correction at the site 40 is reported, the person in charge of the maintenance center 10 selects the corresponding site / connection equipment by using the manual connection destination selection device 53, and takes in the controller 51 with the manual start switch 54. By issuing an instruction, the latest sequencer software 26 can be taken in the same way as the automatic take-in thereafter. As a result, even if the local person in charge is busy, the maintenance center 10 can take a backup, and even if the software is changed without the knowledge of the maintenance center 10, the backup is regularly performed to prevent forgetting the backup. be able to.
[0043]
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment of the present invention. The same members as those in FIG. The difference from the first embodiment is that in this embodiment, the local machine equipment is relatively large-scale, and is composed of a plurality of machine equipment and a sequencer, and a control computer 47 that controls them in an integrated manner. Is the point where is installed. The maintenance center 10 and the maintenance department 30 connected via the communication network 17 are the same as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. Shall.
[0044]
In the configuration diagram shown in FIG. 5, in each local machine facility 40, a plurality of machine devices 46a to 46n are controlled by the sequencers 45a to 45n, respectively. When the operation is performed, the control computer 47 issues an instruction to each of the sequencers 45a to 45n. Such a system is a relatively large-scale system, and mechanical parking lot facilities, automatic warehouses, crane facilities, elevator facilities, robot facilities, and the like often have such a configuration.
The control computer 47 notifies the maintenance center 10 as a failure notification together with the name of the sequencer equipment in which the failure has occurred, the failure occurrence information from the sequencer in which the failure has occurred, the instruction content that the computer has currently issued, and the operation status of other sequencers. It has a function to do.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when an abnormality / failure occurs in a machine device controlled by a sequencer in each local machine facility, the occurrence status of the failure is automatically notified to the maintenance center, and the cause of the failure Therefore, it is possible to provide a system that can perform a quick recovery operation by transmitting a recovery instruction to a maintenance staff who rushes to the site for recovery and the site.
In addition, even when there are multiple local machine facilities, it is possible to handle multiple sites and multiple maintenance personnel at a single maintenance center, saving labor.
Also Book The invention provides a method of generating diagnostic logic rules that are the basis of failure diagnosis from sequencer software at each site, so that rules can be easily changed in a timely manner by changing local software. .
[0046]
Claim 3 According to the described invention, it is possible to perform recovery with high accuracy because the recovery instruction data is output by ranking the failure factors with a high probability of occurrence based on past results.
Furthermore, according to the invention described in claim 4, since a pager, a mobile phone, a PHS or the like is used as the recovery instruction communication means for the maintenance person, the restoration instruction information is promptly sent to the mobile terminal owned by the maintenance person who is moving. You can be notified.
In the invention according to claim 5, since a backup method using communication means is provided, backup can be performed without manual intervention, and it can be performed simultaneously with a local change.
Furthermore, according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the state of the sequencer in the predetermined time zone immediately before the occurrence of the failure can always be held in the storage device, and an accurate failure diagnosis without error is easy.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall block configuration diagram of a remote fault diagnosis system in mechanical equipment according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a ladder diagram of a sequencer showing an example of automatic analysis of the remote fault diagnosis system of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a condition list of analysis results showing an example of automatic analysis of the remote fault diagnosis system of FIG. 1;
4 is an explanatory diagram of an automatic backup device incorporated in the maintenance center of the remote fault diagnosis system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is an overall block configuration diagram of a remote fault diagnosis system in mechanical equipment according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional remote fault diagnosis system.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information holding circuit incorporated in a data management device in a maintenance center or a sequencer of local machine equipment.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Maintenance center
11, 31, 41 Communication device
12 Data management device
13 Failure cause inference device
14 Transmission data creation device
15 Logic analyzer
16 Sequencer software storage device
17 Communication network
18 Telephone line
21 Failure occurrence condition DB
22 Recovery instruction DB
23 Failure history DB
26 Sequencer software
30 Maintenance department
32, 42 Information display terminal device
33 Failure status input device
40 local
43 Printer or FAX
45 Sequencer
46 Mechanical equipment
47 Control computer
50 Automatic backup device
51 controller
52 Local list
53 Manual connection destination selection device
54 Manual start switch
55 Automatic capture interval setting device
56 Timer device
61 Fault diagnosis expert system
120 Sequence data holding device
121 cycle memory

Claims (7)

Connect one or more local machinery and equipment that have machinery controlled by a sequencer to a remote maintenance center via a public or private network / communication network, such as a computer network. In a remote failure diagnosis system for machinery and equipment that performs failure diagnosis by connecting and notifying the department in charge of maintenance (including the person in charge of maintenance) of the restoration support through the communication network,
In said maintenance center, and one or more information holding means for holding the output and internal information of the sequencer required failure analysis of each of the mechanical devices (hereinafter referred to as the failure analysis information) at the time of fault occurrence, the local side A failure occurrence condition database (hereinafter referred to as DB) storing conditions under which the sequencer of the machine device detects a failure;
A cause inference device that infers one or more failure causes from the failure occurrence condition DB based on the failure analysis information sent from the corresponding local side, and a restoration instruction based on the failure cause obtained from the inference device A transmission data creation device that creates recovery instruction data from the DB, and an information display terminal device that receives the failure analysis information from each local side or maintenance department to the maintenance center, and is provided from the maintenance center to the maintenance department or the local side to include a communication device and for transmitting the data, when a fault in the machine local side each occur, the failure analysis information, and notifies via the communication network and the communication device to the maintenance center side recovery instruction Day by causing inference apparatus from failure analysis information and failure occurrence condition DB held in the information holding means in the center estimates a failure cause, corresponding to the cause and the failure cause malfunction that the estimated With and notification to the maintenance department to realize a rapid failure recover,
Further, the maintenance center includes a logic analysis device that analyzes a logic of a sequencer of a local machine device and analyzes a condition that causes a failure,
The logic analysis device finds all combinations of factors by which the local sequencer detects a failure based on the backup software stored in the sequencer software maintenance center stored in the sequencer of the local machine device. A remote fault diagnosis system characterized by generating an occurrence condition list and storing the failure occurrence condition list in the failure occurrence condition DB .   Each local machine device has a cycle memory that stores the failure analysis information of the sequencer necessary for failure analysis for a predetermined time range, and the failure analysis information is sequentially written in the cycle memory, so that the latest data is always kept Means for holding the state in the predetermined time zone immediately before the occurrence of the failure in the cycle memory by stopping the writing of new information by the failure signal generated by the occurrence of the failure of the corresponding mechanical equipment while being stored for the predetermined time region The remote fault diagnosis system for machine equipment according to claim 1, comprising:   When there is a failure history DB that records failure occurrence status, cause, and treatment result, and a plurality of failure factors are selected as a result of diagnosis by the cause inference device, the probability of occurrence is high based on the failure history DB The remote fault diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein a recovery instruction signal is issued after ranking the fault factors.   Use mobile communication means such as pagers, mobile phones, PHS, satellite communications, and satellite telephones as recovery instruction communication means to maintenance departments, including maintenance personnel, to mobile terminals owned by maintenance personnel who are moving The remote fault diagnosis system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the recovery instruction information is notified.   5. The sequencer software stored in each local sequencer is backed up to the maintenance center side through an automatic backup device using a communication network. Remote fault diagnosis system. In the sequencer of the local machine equipment, equipped with a cycle buffer-like storage device that stores the sequencer input / output and internal information necessary for failure analysis for a predetermined time range,
Always write the state of the sequencer to the storage device, throw away from the oldest information if the storage area is insufficient, save the latest information in the predetermined time range,
6. The remote fault diagnosis according to claim 1, wherein writing of new information is stopped due to occurrence of a failure of the corresponding mechanical device, thereby maintaining a state in a predetermined time range immediately before the occurrence of the failure. system.   The remote fault diagnosis system according to claim 1, wherein the mechanical equipment used in the remote fault diagnosis system according to claim 1 is a mechanical parking lot, a crane equipment, an automatic warehouse, an elevator equipment, or a robot equipment.

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